platypus55's Full Review: Tierra Gitana by Gipsy Kings
I was asked once why I have published very few music reviews on Epinions. There are two reasons, really. One is that I will probably use too much technical music jargon, and the other is that I think a lot of mainstream popular music is formulaic overproduced oversexualized dreck.
So most of the music I listen to doesn't even find its way onto Epinions database. But I've ferreted out a couple of CD's that I own and like, one of which is Tierra Gitana by the Gipsy Kings (Reyes Gitanos).
The Gipsy Kings have their roots in the traditional Flamenco music of Spain. In the traditional style, you just have a guitar virtuoso playing alone in the rasqueado style. Percussion is provided by the dancers' feet, or by castanets on their hands. Vocals are usually sung in a raspy tobacco coated voice with numerous long melismas. The melisma is clearly the Arabic influence in Spain -- it sounds like something you might hear off a minaret in Algiers. Quite a bit of the flamenco music is based on the phrygian scale, which is related to the gipsy (Egyptian) scale. Interestingly enough, a great body of Jewish music is also based on the so-called gipsy scale. Not really surprising when you consider that Jews and Arabs are semitic cousins.
I hate to burst your bubble, but contrary to what you might have heard elsewhere, the language the Reyes sing in on this CD is just Spanish with a rather distinctive accent. Nothing quaint or romantic there. The lyrics, for the most part are not deep or particularly profound--they just serve as a vehicle to showcase the voices and the music.
Totally traditional flamenco is a folk niche, and like most authentic folk music it has too thin and raw a sound for the 21st century consumer. The Reyes are trying to appeal to a broader market, and so they packaged their licks up with a more modern sound, set most of the pieces over a Latinish groove, and got a large cast of studio musicians to fatten up the sound. Most of the pieces clip along at about 110 b/m-- a nice tempo for Latin dancing.
There are 13 tracks on this CD. Many are introduced with a nice flamenco guitar lick or a wailing vocal by Nicolas Reyes before the groove kicks in. I like track #2 (Siempre Acaba tu vida) for the Andean flute sound that accentuates it.
The overall mood is kept interesting by swapping in various backup instruments. On the most Mexican sounding track (Pajarito) we hear the accordion, which after being maligned for many years is finally being given some respect these days. A couple of the tracks have strings, though I don't hear any really flashy gipsy fiddling. Hey the Baliardos are guitarrists, they're not gonna let that happen!! Central to all tracks is an impressive array of guitaristic virtuosity that weaves in and out of the groove with grace and style. They placed the guitars pretty front in the mix so you know who the stars of the show are.
Keyboard is used sparingly; Latin perc drives most of the tracks. Of particular note is their arrangement of Los Peces en el Rio, a traditional Spanish Christmas carol. Each verse is performed in a tense drawn out Flamenco wail, so that by the time you get to the refrain where the groove is, you're dying for it.
If you like Flamenco and or Latin dancing, you will probably enjoy the Gipsy Kings.
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I have one complaint to air here: You have to select something in the Great music to play while _______. I said romancing because it was the closest match and because it rhymes, but honestly, I would think that "dancing" would be an option. Is everyone else here totally butt-bound?
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